SAT Skills Insight
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6/1
- Overview
- Reading
- Mathematics
- Writing
Select a score band
Organization and Ideas
Skills needed to score in this band
SKILL 1: Understand the central idea(s) in a simple text or in a short section of a longer text
SKILL 2: Determine the main idea of a text and apply it to a different context
SKILL 3: Understand the relationship of ideas within and across different texts
SKILL 4: Integrate information from short sections of different texts
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1
Understand the central idea(s) in a simple text or in a short section of a longer text
ExampleView Passage
Passage 1
A reading passage Line Number Text Food has always been considered one of the most salient
markers of cultural traditions. When I was a small child,
food was the only thing that helped identify my family as
Filipino American. We ate pansit lug-lug (a noodle dish)
Line 5 and my father put patis (salty fish sauce) on everything.
However, even this connection lessened as I grew older.
As my parents became more acculturated, we ate less
typically Filipino food. When I was twelve, my mother
took cooking classes and learned to make French and
Line 10 Italian dishes. When I was in high school, we ate chicken
marsala and shrimp fra diablo more often than Filipino
dishes like pansit lug-lug.
View Passage
Passage 2
A reading passage Line Number Text Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin—who in 1825 confi-
dently announced, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell
Line 15 you who you are”—would have no trouble describing
cultural identities of the United States. Our food reveals
us as tolerant adventurers who do not feel constrained
by tradition. We “play with our food” far more readily
than we preserve the culinary rules of our varied ancestors.
Line 20 Americans have no single national cuisine. What unites
American eaters culturally is how we eat, not what we
eat. As eaters, Americans mingle the culinary traditions
of many regions and cultures. We are multiethnic eaters.
The author of Passage 2 would most likely regard the mother’s willingness to “make French and Italian dishes” (lines 9–10, Passage 1) as
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2
Determine the main idea of a text and apply it to a different context
ExampleView Passage
Passage 1
A reading passage Line Number Text Food has always been considered one of the most salient
markers of cultural traditions. When I was a small child,
food was the only thing that helped identify my family as
Filipino American. We ate pansit lug-lug (a noodle dish)
Line 5 and my father put patis (salty fish sauce) on everything.
However, even this connection lessened as I grew older.
As my parents became more acculturated, we ate less
typically Filipino food. When I was twelve, my mother
took cooking classes and learned to make French and
Line 10 Italian dishes. When I was in high school, we ate chicken
marsala and shrimp fra diablo more often than Filipino
dishes like pansit lug-lug.
View Passage
Passage 2
A reading passage Line Number Text Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin—who in 1825 confi-
dently announced, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell
Line 15 you who you are”—would have no trouble describing
cultural identities of the United States. Our food reveals
us as tolerant adventurers who do not feel constrained
by tradition. We “play with our food” far more readily
than we preserve the culinary rules of our varied ancestors.
Line 20 Americans have no single national cuisine. What unites
American eaters culturally is how we eat, not what we
eat. As eaters, Americans mingle the culinary traditions
of many regions and cultures. We are multiethnic eaters.
The two passages differ in their discussions of food primarily in that Passage 1
Skills needed to score in the next band
As you read a longer text, notice how its parts work together. How does the author introduce and conclude his or her idea? What support or evidence does the author provide?
Look for two texts about the same topic by different authors. Compare and contrast how each author feels about the topic and how each author addresses the topic.
When you finish reading an essay, a newspaper article, or a magazine article, consider what conclusions and predictions you can make. What might come next if the essay or article were to continue?
